Video(s) Of The Week: Washington Welcomes Kiwi Men's Eight to the Huskies' Garage

This week's video is a one-on-one, in-depth interview with Washington Husky men's coach Mike Callahan thanks to Kevin Shoop, and discusses the culture that Callahan and staff have created within the confines of the Conibear Shellhouse. More than that, it provides a context for what has been the most successful men's rowing program in the U.S. for the last decade, and sheds some light on Callahan's own background and reasons for choosing Washington.

While the Huskies found themselves the victims of a California double-victory in Seattle over the weekend (Cal won both the men's and women's varsity eight races in the Dual for the first time since 2006—of that, more later), they'll need to lick their wounds and recover quickly for the challenge facing them at Saturday's Windermere Cup: The Kiwi men's eight is currently en route to Seattle via San Francisco, and will present one of the most formidable opponents the Huskies have ever hosted on the Cut.

The Kiwi men's eight has been training and racing together for over two years, and the results have been, well impressive. How impressive? They're coming off back-to-back U23 men's eight world championship titles—a track record good enough to grant them selection into the Rowing New Zealand senior national team as a unit. Their goal this year: To qualify the eight for the Olympic Games in Rio.

In addition to the Kiwis, the Huskies will also be facing Columbia, while the Washington women will take on a very strong Virginia squad (no. 4 in the RowingRelated NCAA Rankings) that just performed very well at the Clemson Invite a little over a week ago.

RR editor Bryan Kitch will be heading to Seattle for Opening Day on behalf of ROWING Magazine, and you can follow the New Zealand men's eight via the RowingRelated social feeds and by following the hashtag #TheKiwisAreComing, as coxswain Caleb Shepherd has the keys to the RR Instagram account for the week!